The winter get-away

And get away we did! H and I went to California for 6 days! It started in San Francisco for 3 days then we went to Napa Valley and Calistoga for a long weekend, returning on Monday night (after a big snow storm at home). It was heavenly. I slept late, ate well, read, exercised, caught up with a good friend and tasted lots of yummy wines! Here is day 2: biking across the Golden Gate Bridge and to Sausilito. Okay, we do look like dorks with those helmets but we did see a biking accident along the way. Big fun anyway! "I will not dismount" was my slogan even as I climbed the hills.

A Hoppin' Good Time

M. turned 7! We had a family dinner with a favorite cousin coming to spend the night before the Princess and the Frog pool party! Big fun to swim in January! It was the LONGEST birthday party I have ever had for young kids, 2-5pm. When the lifeguard suggested we could be done after only 1 hour of swimming I had to tell him "no way, parents are coming for another 2 hours. We will swim until 4, thanks". It was fine because it did take a while for 20 kids to dry off and change clothes before our cute frog cupcakes, ice cream and goldfish snacks and then to open presents. M. had a ball and that made it the perfect party! She ended up sleeping over at a friends so H. and I went out to dinner! Hoppin" good time for everyone!

My baby turns SEVEN!

I cannot believe that 7 years ago my baby arrived at 1:30pm! The time has really flown by! We are having a great day so far. Krispy Kreme doughnuts (heart shaped) for the first grade class, went to Build A Bear to get some outfits and accessories, family dinner at Macaroni Grill and a favorite cousin to spend the night. A big pool party tomorrow with a Frog and the Princess theme.Check out my cute cupcakes!!

I am OLD!

H. and I took our youngest ice skating with friend yesterday. Well today I am sore! Actually I was sore yesterday, almost immediately. First my shins and back hurt while skating. Those aches went away after about 30 minutes of skating. I couple skated with my hubby. We looked GOOD. Yeah, right, probably only to ourselves and maybe our youngest (who doesn't know better). Anyway after 90 minutes of helping little ones skate, i.e. bending over, skating backwards, etc... I was frozen and tired. When I was walking to the car, my hubby said I looked like I just got off a horse. Thanks hon, you don't look any better. About 2 hours later we subjected ourselves to more torture. We ran (for exercise) 2.8 miles. Okay now I really was tired, sore, bent and OLD!!! Today I woke up not nearly as sore as I expected. So who knows, maybe I will go running again tonight. (H. wants us to participate (note I did not say finish) in a 10 mile run in April. That will be almost 2 hours of running. Who would want to do that? Not me but we will see how far I get in the training.

Big fun!

My oldest K. had a half birthday party on Saturday night. Weird, I know! But she wanted to celebrate "getting her 9's off" and she had a friend who was turning 17-old enough to go to R movies now, so they decided to have a party at Pump It Up. Okay even weirder but really, really fun! PIU is an inflatable, glow in the dark, black light place. They invited about 30 kids, made black t-shirts with splattered glow in the dark paint and had fun napkins, plates, snacks and an Ariel cake (guess who baked!). The party was from 8:30-10:30, kinda late for me but perfect for all those teens. Our family went AND participated until about 10ish, when M. really started to fade. It was BIG FUN! Guess who else is having a half birthday party next week? Yep, L. turns 13.5 on Monday so its party #2. And then M. turns 7 on next Friday. SO I WILL BE HAVING 3 PARTIES IN 2 WEEKS! Fun January so far!!!

You've Come A Long Way Baby!

M. was invited to a neighbor's birthday party, a roller skating party last Friday. She was invited to this exact party last year. The difference was that last year she was recently out of a body cast and surgery and still using a walker. I would have skipped the party but M. REALLY wanted to go. Of course we left in tears. Well this year would be different!! M. learned to skate the day before her accident (how ironic) and had not been roller skating since. She was so excited for the party and really did a fine job of "skating". It is like riding a bike, once you fall off, you get right back on. She did fall a few times but found her groove and had a ball! What a difference a year makes!

The best gift yet!

It is now Jan. 4, 2010 and I am planning on cooking dinner for my family tonight. It will be the first time I have cooked since maybe Dec. 17th! I really do not like to cook, bake, yes, cook, NO! Don't worry, my family has not starved. We did eat out a fair amount but the biggest gift to me was that my sweet husband has cooked lots! And he confessed to really liking it! Now we are getting somewhere! He has made beef tenderloin, lamb chops with a fabulous orzo side dish with pine nuts, spinach and tomatoes, and then over the weekend beef short rib sliders! We just went to a spin class at noon then came home and had left over sliders for lunch and they were terrific! So I am so thankful for his online recipe hunting, shopping (I probably haven't been in a grocery store in 2 weeks either), preparing and cooking our wonderful meals for the past 2 weeks! Great New Year Gift!